How this Land was Made
by ShinyShimaron
Summary: The day of Yuuri and Wolfram's wedding approaches. As they prepare to speak the vows that open the door to a new life together, Conrad reflects on the time he spent adventuring in Dai Shimaron with his closest friend… Conrad/Josak and Wolfram/Yuuri.
1. An Unwelcome Realization

**How this Land was Made**

**Summary: **The day of Yuuri and Wolfram's wedding approaches. As they prepare to speak the vows that open the door to a new life together, Conrad reflects on the time he spent adventuring in Dai Shimaron with a true friend… Yuuram and Conzak.

**Warnings: **Same kind of violence seen on the show, swordfighting and the like. Sex, not graphic.

**Disclaimer: **The characters and setting of Kyou Kara Maou do not belong to me.

**Author's Note: **This story jumps between the present and the past, from Yuuri's wedding to a time around 20 years prior.

* * *

**Chapter 1: An Unwelcome Realization**

_Come closer, child, and listen well,_

_And I will tell you how this land was made,_

_For kings and queens and man may fade,_

_But not the reason for which they dwell_

There were streamers, minstrels, jugglers, and ribbons. There were pastries, kegs of wine, bright lights, and carriages. There was even a sand bear. For Wolfram had spared no expense for the wedding. _His_ wedding.

A romance years in the making had finally blossomed between Yuuri and his fiancé. At first too sheltered by the traditions of his own culture to accept his feelings for another man, it had taken Yuuri a long time to come around and to return Wolfram's affections. But at long last, Yuuri had apparently gained courage and searched himself to find the truth: He loved Wolfram, and was prepared to live out the rest of his years with his soon-to-be Prince Consort. This was an even that surprised many people, no one more than Wolfram himself.

"Hey, you! Straighten out that tablecloth! Everything has to be perfect for our wedding!" His hand gripped the hilt of his sword as he pointed and dashed to and fro.

"Wolfram, calm down! Go relax in another room or something, they'll get it right," Yuuri cried as he chased his fiancé around the room.

"Yuuri, our marriage is forever! If we truly love each other, this wedding should be an expression of that!"

In the middle of the room sat a huge platform that must have been ten feet in diameter. It was to seat the wedding cake to end all wedding cakes. Twenty cooks had been brought in from around the country to prepare it. Wolfram had only seen one wedding cake, but he was certain that _this_ one would be the best cake ever made.

He feverishly fussed and harassed the servants into complete and utter perfection. And while Wolfram would have claimed that it was only to give his beloved fiancé the best, to show his complete and utter love and devotion, deep inside Wolfram knew the real reason: It had to be perfect because otherwise, he feared that the fantasy would end, that Yuuri would come to his senses and insist on them remaining only friends. Wolfram had spent years attempting to badger Yuuri into loving him. Were Yuuri's newfound affections sincere? And while Wolfram was not foolish enough to really believe that straightened tablecloths and a giant wedding cake would somehow convince Yuuri that he had made the right choice, he felt oddly compelled to bend over backwards ensuring that this was the best day of his fiancé's life.

Above it all, on a parapet that overlooked the reception room, stood Conrad. He watched the proceedings, knowing better to get in Wolfram's way while he was preparing for his big day. There would be plenty of time to congratulate them later… but for now, he was busy remembering.

It had all gone by so fast. From the day he first rescued Yuuri at the border of the kingdom… and even farther back, when he was but a small light in the palm of Conrad's hand… had he really grown up? Was he ready to take the next step? Would he even need Conrad anymore? Conrad was not jealous, nor angry. Rather, he felt like a proud father who suddenly realized that his child was grown, and could stand on his own two feet.

Below, on the ground, Yuuri was running back and forth trying to calm Wolfram down. He tripped over a box of tablecloths and face-planted on the ground. Conrad smiled. Perhaps he _wasn't_ quite grown up. Maybe he never would be, not totally.

"So, the kiddo is finally getting married, eh?"

Conrad nodded, not turning to see Josak standing behind him.

"What's the matter, captain? Upset that the kiddo is tying the knot?"

"No… I am happy for him. Wolfram loves him very much, and they are good for each other."

"Still, you gotta be a little jealous. Who is going to need you to be a hero all the time now?" Josak smirked.

Conrad frowned. "I don't feel like much of a hero."

"In his eyes, you are."

Conrad looked down. "Then I guess, in his imagination, I always will be."

"Yeah, you don't get someone as naive as that often around these parts."

Conrad looked at the palm of his hand. He could almost see the soul in the phial, and remembered his desire to smash it on a rock.

"No, you don't."

* * *

_There was one day a beggar who came_

_To the steps of a palace grand_

_This was before we knew this land_

_Before Shimaron was its name_

The bell on the shop door rang as the door opened and closed. A large, burly man with jet black hair entered the shop. He looked to the back, past the shelves of books sold there to a young, brown-haired man wearing glasses. He was sitting in a chair, with a pen behind his ear, engrossed in some book or another. The burly man moved his eyes to the counter, where a… strong-looking woman was engaging the shopkeeper in idle conversation. She flashed him a wink and pursed her very red lips. If the burly man had been more in tune with fashion, he would have said that she wore the wrong shade of lipstick. Instead, he just felt that she looked like a man.

He had no time for games. He needed to buy parchment. He approached the counter and asked for a specific and expensive kind from the shopkeeper. He did not notice the woman slip a piece of paper out of her breast. As the shopkeeper placed the parchment on the counter, the woman stealthily compared the two. They were a match.

The woman smiled, brushed back her hair, and glanced to the side at the young man in the chair. The young man took the pen out from behind his ear and placed it in his mouth. The woman nodded subtly. The burly man noticed none of this, but _did _notice when the woman knocked a bottle of ink onto the floor.

"_Oops_, my mistake." She giggled. "Say, you wouldn't mind picking that up for me, would you, sweetheart?"

"I don't think you need any help picking anything up, not with those huge muscles and giant man-hands of yours," the burly man said with a growl as he turned to leave.

"Why… I have never suffered such… _rudeness_ in my _life_!" The woman gasped, her hands folded over her lips dramatically.

The burly man heard an audible sigh coming from the back of the room. He turned around and strode towards the young man, who was still seated in his chair, looking annoyed.

"And what are you sighing for, idiot? What, is that your girlfriend? Well, maybe you need better glasses, then." And with that, he grabbed the young man's glasses off of his face and broke them between his burly fingers. It was on.

Swoop! With one quick motion, Josak Gurrier stole the man's wallet and ran for it, taking a left out of the door.

"What the-" the burly main straightened up, surprised… Only to be pulled down again as Conrad stood, grabbed his collar, jerked him down, and punched his teeth out.

The man fell to the floor. Conrad stepped over his whimpering body and deposited some coin on the counter, walking out with the book he had been reading under his arm. He walked in the opposite direction of his friend, and hoped that guy was going after Josak. He deserved it.


	2. What Made the World?

**Chapter 2: What Made the World?**

_He entered through the palace gate_

_And limped towards the land's ruling queen_

_A sorceress like none had seen_

_Not from that time until this date_

"Mother…"

"Cheri-sama…"

"Now now, I'm thinking green, with the white sailboats on it! Don't you think it would bring out the color of his eyes?"

"Mother!"

"Or maybe blue with red trim? You'd really stand out, Wolfram, which is the only way to stand on your wedding day!"

"_Mother, I am not going to wear that._"

"Oh, Wolfram. It's not every day a son of mine is getting married." Cecilie sighed and sent a pouty look towards Gwendal and Conrad. "I don't have a daughter to design a dress for, but I can make you look beautiful just fine! Now stand still and be measured."

"This is humiliating!"

"I'll make matching suits for the entire wedding party!"

"Ah, I think I'm going to be sick that day," said Conrad.

"Me too," said Yuuri, his head in his hand.

"I will likely have important military business to tend to." Gwendal winced.

"Well, if I have to wear this ridiculous outfit, you all do too!" Wolfram brushed dust off of his shoulder with a surly look on his face.

Yuuri's older brother, Shouri, was sitting across from him. He was not very impressed with the wedding traditions of the demons.

"Yuu-chan. Are you completely forsaking Japanese tradition for this wedding? What about mom and dad? Are they even coming? And the rest of the family?"

"Well… it's not exactly easy to bring an entire wedding party to another world, you know. I figured we could have our own celebration there later…"

"I don't think most of our family will approve of your groom."

"Why not?!" Wolfram asked. "I'm Yuuri's fiancé! I've protected him from danger! What is wrong with me?"

"Nothing… it's just… nevermind."

"Shouri, we can worry about that later. Besides, I thought you could give my traditional wedding speech."

"What speech is that, Your Majesty?" asked Conrad.

"Well, first, we'd need a glove. Well, two gloves. A pair of gloves, I mean. And then a bag of things you need for emergencies, with some supplies… the hardest part, of course, is taking them to Ikebukuro…"

"This sounds complicated, Your Majesty."

"_Love is complicated_, captain." Josak smirked.

"_Listen, O great queen of power,_

_Will you not lend me your aid?_

_My clothes are dirty, ripped, and frayed,_

_I have not bread, nor wine nor flour."_

Josak sat on the flat roof of a building above the town market. He was munching on an apple. It was stained with lipstick. A voice floated up from below where he sat.

"You idiot! You were supposed to get parchment, not assault the locals! The town guard will get suspicious."

"They were looking at me funny. No one looks at me funny." Josak thumbed through the villain's wallet as the two men entered the building below.

Behind him, a heavy sack landed on the roof. Two seconds later, Conrad climbed up onto their designated meeting-spot.

"Took your sweet time, captain," said Josak as he spit out an apple seed.

"I was trying not to draw attention. You've done enough of that as it is. What happened to following the plan?"

"You put the pen in your mouth, so I dropped the bottle of ink, just as we planned!"

"Pen in the mouth means to pick his pockets, not seduce him!"

"Am I detecting a hint of jealousy, Your Amazing Excellency?"

"You wish." Conrad sat down next to his friend and took a swig from a bottle of water. "So, what do we know now?"

"Well, these are definitely the guys we're looking for. Man walked in and bought the parchment, just like the shopkeeper said. And look at this…" he tossed a Dai Shimaron seal into Conrad's hands.

"So these guys are working for Dai Shimaron, or are pretending to work for them…" Conrad frowned.

"We'll have to follow them. See if they can lead us to the kid."

"Hopefully they aren't suspicious after your… display."

"_My_ display?" Josak said, noticing Conrad's red knuckles. "You punched another guy, didn't you? What's with you and punching lately? Sword not good enough?"

"Sometimes you have to get personal."

"That's not what you do. You always have to be mister professional, mister calm-and-cool-hero." He rolled his eyes and flailed his arms. "I mean, are you still all angry over-"

"Aren't you?" Conrad asked quietly.

"Well, yeah. But breaking teeth isn't going to fix it."

Conrad sighed. "Yeah, I guess not." He twirled the Dai Shimaron seal in his hands. All those years spent proving his loyalty to Shin Makoku… down the drain.

It wasn't as if his efforts hadn't paid off. He was the hero of his country, respected and beloved. All in Shin Makoku knew of his loyalty. And yet, he felt as if he had lost more than he had gained. Though every fiber of his being told him to smile and wave, to be gracious and kind, to accept his status and honor his mother's position as queen… he was angry. And he realized, as he gripped the seal of Dai Shimaron, that his old enemy was no longer his biggest threat.

"Yeah, I'm thinking that the whole undercover thing isn't for me." Conrad handed the seal back to Josak. "It was a nice try though."

"I hope that old lady doesn't want her glasses back." The thought that somewhere, blocks away, an old lady was bumping into her pots and pans made Josak wince.

"She played a noble role in the valiant rescue of a very influential child," said Conrad sarcastically.

"Ah, well, they're leaving the building. Guess I'd better follow them. You stay here, captain, lest you accidentally start punching people again."

Conrad waved him off and pulled the large sack he had brought towards him. Opening it up, he pulled out the book. _The Great Shimaron: A Children's Book of Tales_. He ran his fingers over the cover. He couldn't really explain why to anyone, nor would he want to, but something about the book pulled him in. If his life had been as it should have been… if he was raised as a child in his father's land of Dai Shimaron, if the Weller family was on his throne… he would know all the tales in this book. He would have read from it every night. It was like a portal to a different reality he could have had. But it was not his reality. It's was just an old book of children's tales. He turned the pages, scanning the stories that were mostly ridiculous… when he spotted one, one that his father had told him as a child. It was long, a verse in fact. And though he remembered his father recounting it to him, Conrad could not remember exactly what it was that made the world.


	3. A Challenge from Stolsland

**How this Land was Made**

**Summary: **The day of Yuuri and Wolfram's wedding approaches. As they prepare to speak the vows that open the door to a new life together, Conrad reflects on the time he spent adventuring in Dai Shimaron with a true friend… Yuuram and Conzak.

**Warnings: **Same kind of violence seen on the show, swordfighting and the like. Sex, not graphic.

**Disclaimer: **The characters and setting of Kyou Kara Maou do not belong to me.

**Author's Note: **This story jumps between the present and the past, from Yuuri's wedding to a time around 20 years prior.

**Chapter 3: A Challenge from Stolsland**

_The queen rose from her great throne_

_To cast a spell to save his life_

_As she drew near he drew his knife_

_Betrayed by a glint of light shown_

"What brings you to Shin Makoku, emissary of Stolsland?" asked Gwendal von Voltaire. As usual, he flanked his mother's throne alongside Stuffel von Spitzveig, his uncle and regent of Shin Makoku.

"His Royal Highness the King of Stolsland has sent me to petition the honorable Maou of Shin Makoku for aid regarding a… delicate matter," he replied, nodding at Cecilie von Spitzveg.

"And what matter would that be?" asked Stuffel, "Does the King of Stolsland regret his rejection of an alliance between our two nations?"

"His Majesty does not regret his decision to remain neutral in these perilous times, despite your earnest petitions," replied the emissary. "However, he believes that his favor might be swayed in your direction if you aid us in this matter."

"And what matter would that be?" asked Gwendal. Cecilie remained silent.

The emissary looked back and forth, and his voice became hushed. "Someone very close to His Majesty has gone missing. A child, in fact. Foul play is suspected. In fact, since the child's disappearance, several messages have been sent to His Majesty claiming to be from a group of bandits, asking for a ransom."

Gwendal and Stuffel huddled together to read the messages.

"Doesn't the Maou care to read them? Is she not the leader of your country?"

"As her regent, I have authority in these matters," said Stuffel. The emissary did not look impressed.

"But of course, we must help in any way we can," said Cecilie passionately. "I myself have three boys, you know-"

"And what should we expect in return for our aid in this matter?" asked Stuffel.

"As you know, Stolsland is home to many of the most prominent trading ports in the world, a privilege we have enjoyed for centuries. While we have worked hard to maintain neutrality, we might be open to fairer trade agreements with nations that prove their loyalty and service…"

"Very well. We will convene in private and decide the best course of action to take," Stuffel said calmly.

The emissary bowed and left.

_And thus he revealed himself to be_

_Not a beggar as was thought,_

_But a prince; one who had sought_

_To slay his great enemy_

"Wolfram, I have an announcement to make."

"What is it now, Yuuri?"

"Well, you see, I was strolling around downtown when I saw the most beautiful milkmaid I have ever seen. She was just amazing! We talked, and we talked, and we talked all while you were up here sulking around the castle, and I decided that she would appreciate this all a lot more than you. So I'm getting married to her instead!"

"What?!" Wolfram looked up to see Yuuri in his wedding-suit, a beautiful woman holding on to his arm.

"Yuuri! That isn't a milkmaid! That is my mother!"

"Ah, well, yes, but she is really smart and beautiful, and did you know she used to be queen? I think we go very well together. So I'm going to need you to leave. There's a place for you in the basement."

"You wimp!" Wolfram lunged at Yuuri, only to be picked up and placed over the shoulders of Gwendal, who began to haul him down an endless flight of stairs. Wolfram thrashed and flailed, trying to escape, trying to wake up from this obvious night-

"OW! Wolfram! You hit me in the face!" Yuuri sat up in bed, rubbing his nose. "What, were you having a bad dream or something?"

Wolfram sat up and blushed.

"Uh, yeah… I think so…" Wolfram rubbed his eyes and then eyed Yuuri suspiciously.

"Why are you looking at me like that, Wolfram? Am I bleeding?" Yuuri checked his face.

"Do you still want to marry me?" Yuuri looked surprised.

"What kind of question is that? Of course I do! We have a wedding and everything! Go back to sleep." Yuuri laid back down. But Wolfram couldn't, not if he continued to have these ridiculous dreams.

Of course Yuuri wasn't going to marry mother. That was stupid. It was a stupid dream. But it was a reoccurring one. And Wolfram didn't know whether he was taking it too seriously, or if Yuuri wasn't taking it seriously enough.


End file.
